Its a fun souvenir. I always stay off site and have been using a Magic Band since you could use a MB.
For my last trip, I bought everyone in my family a MB of their choice (6 people), my SIL and brother took over a day to decide what they wanted, and they were getting so annoyed with pulling out their cards for FP+ (especially since I make every effort to FP+ every ride). So they were very happy when they finally found what they wanted at the end of day 2. (they ended up using the create your own to get Baby Yoda and The Mandolorian)
After losing our tickets the last trip to Disneyland, getting the bands was a no-brainer for us. I mean, we already paid $1700 for tickets, another $60 is a drop in the bucket.
I know in the past if you had a picture of the backs of your tickets they could be replaced if they were lost. Not sure if this is still true, but when we lost one ticket back in 2016 it was pretty easy to have it replaced at guest services.
We like them, family of 4, 2 adults 2 kids 10-13. But be careful, as I have lost a magic band before (have to buy another at guest relations)… and both my son’s and daughter’s fell off this last trip. For me and the son, it was taking backpacks on and off. Daughter was trying to adjust it on ToT during the wait and almost dropped it down in a deep hole.
My first trip I didn’t buy a magic band just because of the price, I thought they were unnecessary and was able to enter the park and access FP lines using the card in my pocket.
Second trip I decided to splurge on a $15 MB and it felt really amazing! Every interaction that required a MB during the 3 days trip felt a little bit magical, and the photos (sharing memory Maker was another splurge) showing up on your account also felt magical. The joy of touching my MB to a FP reader and it turning green is one of my clearest recollections from that trip
So, are they needed? No. But they have a great cost/delight ratio, so I would definitely recommend.
